‘Action Is Necessary’ on Edgemoor Problems : Professional Review Committee Gives Specific Ideas on Improving Troubled County Hospital

Problems at San Diego County’s Edgemoor Geriatric Hospital have been studied enough, and now it is time for the county to improve the much-criticized conditions at the Santee hospital, an advisory committee on Edgemoor recommends.

“The time for study and discussion has long since passed and action is now necessary to ensure the safety and care of the patients that are housed in or will be admitted to this facility,” the Edgemoor Professional Review Committee said in a letter mailed to the Board of Supervisors on Thursday.

The committee’s letter, which detailed problems with personnel, maintenance and buildings at the 323-bed hospital, was the culmination of more than six months of study by the panel of doctors, nurses, health administrators and social service workers.

It came in the wake of the county Civil Service Commission’s decision Wednesday to conduct a limited investigation of Edgemoor because of complaints made by an employee who works in a locked mental ward at the hospital.

Also this week, state Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego) asked the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to authorize a state performance audit of Edgemoor and the County Mental Health Hospital.

Together, the three actions have added still more fuel to the fire surrounding Edgemoor, an aging, deteriorating facility where the county’s poor, elderly and mentally ill patients go when they have nowhere else to turn.

Although the care of most of Edgemoor’s patients is subsidized by state and federal health programs, county officials acknowledge that the subsidies fall short of providing the money needed to run the hospital adequately. County supervisors have scheduled a conference on April 30 to begin studying whether the county should prop up the faltering hospital or eliminate the service altogether.

Specifically, the review committee recommended Thursday that:

- The county’s personnel system be improved or changed so that the hospital can more easily hire new workers when openings exist. (Hospital Administrator Francoise Euliss said in an interview Thursday that it often takes months for Edgemoor to hire replacements and that the hospital is now short about 15 employees.)

- The staff and budget for maintenance at Edgemoor be placed under the control of the hospital administrator rather than the county’s General Services Department. “The maintenance support (system) doesn’t provide timely, effective response and requires Edgemoor to compete with other county departments for maintenance services,” the letter said.

- The chain of command at Edgemoor be clarified because the areas of responsibility today are “difficult to identify.”

- A “realistic” plan be developed for dealing with Edgemoor’s deteriorating buildings, which were constructed in phases over the last 50 years.

In suggesting that improvements be made as soon as possible, the review committee said the hospital has a “vital and unique role” to play in the community.

Euliss said she agreed with the committee’s recommendations on the personnel and maintenance systems and the hospital’s physical plant. But she said she doubted that the county could give her more flexibility to hire employees.

“That would go completely against the civil service system,” she said. “I don’t think it’s possible.”